Deals & Corporate Governance
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July 18, 2024
Pharma Biz Buys Animal Medicine Co. For Up To $520M
Latham & Watkins LLP-advised animal health therapeutics company Invetx, which is currently owned by life sciences-focused investment management firm Novo Holdings, on Thursday announced plans to be bought by veterinary pharmaceuticals company Dechra Pharmaceuticals Ltd., advised by Kirkland & Ellis LLP, for up to $520 million.
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July 17, 2024
Burr & Forman Accused Of Aiding Health Insurance Fraud
Burr & Forman LLP has been hit with a malpractice suit in Georgia federal court by the liquidating trustees of two purported health insurance companies after the firm allegedly aided in a scheme to defraud customers by charging exorbitant fees and denying promised coverage, saying the attorneys helped create a web of LLCs to which it siphoned off millions.
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July 16, 2024
Masimo Accuses Politan Of Deceit In Hostile Takeover
Masimo Corp. has hit the activist investment firm Politan Capital Management LP and its top brass with a lawsuit in California federal court, accusing the hedge fund of violating securities laws by trying to gain control of Masimo through a proxy contest that duped Masimo shareholders using "lies and deceit."
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July 16, 2024
Sanford-Marshfield Tie-Up Portends More Cross-Market Deals
A merger between two Midwest health systems is evidence of hospitals' desire to strike deals with players in other markets, according to experts in the space, who say the trend may be influenced by a tough antitrust environment and larger industry shift to value-based care.
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July 16, 2024
Chancery Orders Illumina Docs Released In Grail Merger Fight
Benefit fund shareholders of biotech giant Illumina Inc. won a Delaware Court of Chancery order on Tuesday for a rare, limited release of legal advice documents on Illumina's merger agreement with cancer-testing firm Grail Inc., a deal that has cost the company billions in fines and lost value.
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July 16, 2024
Drugmaker BioLineRx Beats Investor Suit Over Cash Shortfall
Israeli biotech company BioLineRx has, for now, beaten a proposed class action over claims that it misled investors on its capital shortfall, which caused a major decline in its share price, with a New Jersey federal judge saying the plaintiffs have failed to plead any actionable misleading or false statements.
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July 16, 2024
Manatt Adds Healthcare Transactions Partner From McDermott
Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP has added a new healthcare partner to its Boston office.
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July 16, 2024
Heart-Focused Biotech Closes $260M Series B Funding Round
Clinical-stage biotechnology company Cardurion Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Tuesday announced that it has raised $260 million in Series B financing that will go toward helping the Burlington, Massachusetts-based company continue developing therapies for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
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July 16, 2024
The 2024 Diversity Snapshot: What You Need To Know
Law firms' ongoing initiatives to address diversity challenges have driven another year of progress, with the representation of minority attorneys continuing to improve across the board, albeit at a slower pace than in previous years. Here's our data dive into minority representation at law firms in 2023.
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July 16, 2024
These Firms Have The Most Diverse Equity Partnerships
Law360’s law firm survey shows that firms' efforts to diversify their equity partner ranks are lagging. But some have embraced a broader talent pool at the equity partner level. Here are the ones that stood out.
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July 15, 2024
Walgreens Investor Sues Over Challenged Pharmacy Division
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. was hit with a proposed shareholder class action alleging it inflated share prices by concealing the lack of viability of its pharmacy division, which it eventually disclosed needed a major overhaul to become sustainable.
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July 15, 2024
CVS Hit With Investor Suit Over Benefits Unit's Losses
CVS has been hit with a proposed class action in New York federal court over a series of stock price declines it suffered following announcements about losses the healthcare retailer was experiencing in its Health Care Benefits segment.
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July 15, 2024
Cigna, Chuck Close Estate Settle Reneged Benefits Suit
The estate of renowned artist Chuck Close told a New York federal judge that Cigna has agreed to settle a suit claiming the company wouldn't pay for more than $686,000 in at-home skilled nursing care that it claimed was owed to him under his Pace Gallery employee benefit plan.
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July 12, 2024
Law360 Names 2024's Top Attorneys Under 40
Law360 is pleased to announce the Rising Stars of 2024, our list of 158 attorneys under 40 whose legal accomplishments belie their age.
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July 12, 2024
FTC Says Abandoned Novant Deal Moots Lower Court Loss
The Federal Trade Commission is looking to unravel a North Carolina federal judge's order allowing Novant's planned $320 million hospital merger to advance after it subsequently abandoned the deal, telling the Fourth Circuit the appeal is moot and the order should be vacated.
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July 11, 2024
Senate Clears Patent Bill Aiming To Lower Drug Prices
The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would pump the brakes on the ability of pharmaceutical companies to steer patients away from generic versions of a drug, a measure that lawmakers said would lower drug costs.
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July 11, 2024
$435M Yale Hospital Merger Case Set For December Jury Trial
A lawsuit claiming that Yale New Haven Health Corp. is trying to back out of a $435 million deal to buy three Connecticut hospitals will go to a bench trial in December after a state court judge approved the parties' proposed schedule.
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July 11, 2024
GSK Asks Judge To Rule In Teva IP Case, Citing Opioid Deals
A GlaxoSmithKline lawyer has urged a Delaware federal judge to make up his mind about a nearly $400 million patent case against Teva Pharmaceuticals in light of unrelated "opioid-related cases" that the Israeli generic-drug maker has been settling in the billions of dollars.
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July 10, 2024
Drug Pricing, Overreach Dominate IP Disclaimer Feedback
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has received heated feedback regarding its proposal to make follow-on patents easier to invalidate, with drug pricing advocates applauding it, top technology and pharma companies decrying it, and high-profile officials calling the proposal an overstep of the agency's authority.
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July 10, 2024
Ellenoff-Led SPAC Raises $200M To Pursue Healthcare Merger
SIM Acquisition Corp. I, a special-purpose acquisition company formed to pursue a healthcare merger, began trading Wednesday after pricing a $200 million initial public offering, represented by Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP and underwriters counsel Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
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July 10, 2024
NC County Can't Join AG's Suit Over HCA Healthcare Lapses
A county in western North Carolina can't intervene in the attorney general's lawsuit accusing a for-profit health network of reneging on promises it made when it bought an Asheville hospital, the state Business Court has said, finding the county's interference would only delay the case.
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July 09, 2024
Fla. Judge Won't Nix Antitrust Claims Against Alcon
The Florida federal judge presiding over the multidistrict litigation alleging disposable contact lens sellers conspired to fix prices refused Tuesday to let Alcon escape antitrust claims by an online contact lens reseller and sent the suit back to New York.
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July 09, 2024
Healthcare Deals This Week: GSK, Lilly And More
Despite the short week, the healthcare industry saw a handful of notable deals, including ones from GSK and Eli Lilly valued in the billions of dollars.
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July 09, 2024
Kroger Deal's Local Veto May Give Ore. Health Agency Pause
A proposed merger between grocery store giants Kroger and Albertsons has collided with an Oregon community board concerned about the deal exacerbating "pharmacy deserts" in rural areas of the state.
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July 09, 2024
Kirkland Guides Avesi Partners To $1.35B Fund II Close
Stamford, Connecticut-based Avesi Partners, a private equity firm specializing in healthcare and business services, said Tuesday it had closed Avesi Partners Fund II LP at $1.35 billion, with Kirkland & Ellis LLP serving as legal counsel to the oversubscribed fund.
Expert Analysis
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How Fla. Bankruptcy Ruling May Affect Equity Owners
A Florida bankruptcy court’s recent ruling in Vital Pharmaceuticals — which rejected the Third Circuit’s Majestic Star decision that determined a bankrupt corporation’s flow-through status was not protected by the automatic stay — may significantly affect how equity owners can mitigate the impact of flow-through structures in bankruptcy, say Eric Behl-Remijan and Natasha Hwangpo at Ropes & Gray.
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Earnout Contract Considerations After NC Good Faith Ruling
The North Carolina Supreme Court's recent Value Health Solutions v. Pharmaceutical Research decision, holding the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing did not apply in an earnout dispute related to an asset sale, demonstrates the need for practitioners to pay careful attention to milestone concepts in M&A transactions, says Benjamin Hicks at Wagner Hicks.
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Attorneys, Law Schools Must Adapt To New Era Of Evidence
Technological advancements mean more direct evidence is being created than ever before, and attorneys as well as law schools must modify their methods to account for new challenges in how this evidence is collected and used to try cases, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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ESG Around The World: The UK
Following Brexit, the U.K. has adopted a different approach to regulating environmental, social and governance factors from the European Union — an approach that focuses on climate disclosures by U.K.-regulated entities, while steering clear of the more ambitious objectives pursued by the EU, say attorneys at Dechert.
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Tips For Litigating Against Pro Se Parties In Complex Disputes
Litigating against self-represented parties in complex cases can pose unique challenges for attorneys, but for the most part, it requires the same skills that are useful in other cases — from documenting everything to understanding one’s ethical duties, says Bryan Ketroser at Alto Litigation.
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It's Time To Prescribe Frameworks For AI-Driven Health Care
As health care providers begin to adopt artificial intelligence in clinical settings, new legal and regulatory challenges are emerging, with the critical issue being balancing AI's benefits and innovations in health care while ensuring patient safety and provider accountability, say attorneys at Kirkland.
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Preparing For Higher Health Transaction Standards In Calif.
The California Office of Health Care Affordability's revised draft regulations on the reporting of health care transactions incorporate useful improvements to the regulatory scheme, but also contain provisions that may cause concerns for parties contemplating covered transactions, says Andrew Demetriou at Husch Blackwell.
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How Ill. Supreme Court Could Shape Statutory Violation Cases
In Fausett v. Walgreens, the Illinois Supreme Court will take up the question of whether a violation of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act satisfies the injury-in-fact requirement, and any outcome could significantly change the litigation landscape in Illinois, say Donald Patrick Eckler and Joshua Zhao at Freeman Mathis.
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Pro Bono Work Is Powerful Self-Help For Attorneys
Oct. 22-28 is Pro Bono Week, serving as a useful reminder that offering free legal help to the public can help attorneys expand their legal toolbox, forge community relationships and create human connections, despite the challenges of this kind of work, says Orlando Lopez at Culhane Meadows.
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Playing In A Rock Cover Band Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Performing in a classic rock cover band has driven me to hone several skills — including focus, organization and networking — that have benefited my professional development, demonstrating that taking time to follow your muse outside of work can be a boon to your career, says Michael Gambro at Cadwalader.
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The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Espinosa On 'Lincoln Lawyer'
The murder trials in Netflix’s “The Lincoln Lawyer” illustrate the stark contrast between the ethical high ground that fosters and maintains the criminal justice system's integrity, and the ethical abyss that can undermine it, with an important reminder for all legal practitioners, say Judge Adam Espinosa and Andrew Howard at the Colorado 2nd Judicial District Court.
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How To Navigate The FTC's New Private Equity Frontier
The Federal Trade Commission's recent district court complaint against an anesthesia firm and its private equity partner tests key bounds of the agency's stand-alone authority, and defense strategies can include challenges to both the geographic and the service market fronts, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
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Newman Suspension Shows Need For Judicial Reform
The recent suspension of U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman following her alleged refusal to participate in a disability inquiry reveals the need for judicial misconduct reforms to ensure that judges step down when they can no longer serve effectively, says Aliza Shatzman at The Legal Accountability Project.